


Genesis

by livingforfiction



Category: Snowpiercer (TV 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:13:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25392919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livingforfiction/pseuds/livingforfiction
Summary: How and when did Melanie and Mr. Wilford meet?When did it all start?[Season 2 predictions]
Comments: 3
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is merely a theory I formulated while watching the last episodes of Season 1. I hope this is the canon storyline, because I think it would make a great plot and backstory. If it's not, then this is just another product of my deliriant fangirl imagination lol  
> Thanks for reading!

“So, what’s your deal?”,says Layton, after what felt like many hours of silence. Actually, it had only been less than a hour. Here, face to face, side to side in cells, they both felt like equals. It was as if everything that happened in the past months had suddenly vanished from their minds, because those seemed like children’s affairs now.

She turns her head sideways, from her lying position on the floor. “Deal?”, leaves her mouth, almost like a whisper.

“You and him”.

She frowns, she doesn’t wanna talk about it. Still, he keeps surprising her: he figured it out only by seeing them for barely minute. “Old trash. Unresolved stuff.”

“Look, I don’t mean to overstep, but…”

By hearing those words, Mel’s face aimed at him again.

“That seemed like much more than just old stuff. Am I missing something?”

She could harshly say NO and tell him to go to shit. But, but… in that second, she saw her and Layton from the bigger picture: imprisoned, political prisoners, people would have called them years ago. A dictator trying to regain control of their only home, a home she built, by the way. A daughter that doesn’t want to even look at her. Him, he lost his girlfriend and his child is gonna be born in a few months in God knows what kind of train. That alone would upset anyone. Layton knows, Mel, she told herself. You’re both equals now, you don’t need to hide, or protect yourself. This was a hard truth to tell anyone. She hoped she could tell Alexandra someday, even when it would hurt her too.

She sits up, crosses her legs and looks at him. He waits, with his back leaning against the wall. She replays the situation that took place an hour ago:

_Bennett, at the engine, sitting on a chair, a guy standing beside him making sure he doesn’t move a finger. His eyes filled with rage, hate, murderous intentions, point at Wilford, who’s sitting facing the controls. Like he owns the damn train… he might have owned it, once, financially. But this wasn’t his train and is never gonna be, Melanie thought while another guy stood behind her, breathing on her neck. Wilford flips on the chair, stares at Bennett, who doesn’t let go of his gaze for a nanosecond. There’s hate there, she knows. And she also knows it’s not only about the train._

“ _It was obvious, I was right.” he says, staring at her right after. “You”, he points at her with his walking stick. “You treacherous bitch.”_

_She’s not afraid of him anymore, she hasn’t been for a long time now. All she feels now is **rage.** If the guard would let her loose and she were alone with him, it doesn’t matter how physically stronger than her he is; her anger alone would fuel her to, at least, hurt him badly. Then he turns at Bennett, again. “Aren’t you gonna say anything in defense of your loved one?”_

_He turns to Mel instantly, who shakes her head briefly. ‘Don’t give him that satisfaction’, she thought. And he read her expression._

“ _Oh, look at you two. Still hooked on to each other even when she led you to this”, he says to Bennett, who chuckles, a response creating in his mind, tempted to let it out and make him burst with wrath. Still, he wants to protect Mel, prevent Wilford from hurting her even more because of something he could say. So, he doesn’t say a thing. Melanie scrutinizes his eyes, she knows what’s on his mind, because it’s the same thing she has told him quite a few times: ‘In a few years, you’ve treated me a hundred times better than he ever did in more than a decade’._

“ _Well, dear…” he says to Melanie. “Have you got into reason? Are you gonna hand me my posessions, or not?_

“ _I’m not giving you anything.” she responds._

“ _Lock her up.” he replies._

_Before they take her away, she exchanges a look with Bennett. He’s scared to shit for her, but she’ll be fine._

_They leave the Engine, and when she turns around, she sees Wilford walking behind them. He wants to gloat before locking her up, she knows him._

_They reach the cells, Melanie walks through the door, and when she turns around, she sees the guard taking one step backward. “You can go”, Wilford says to the guy. And they’re finally face to face. Not alone, not yet, but he could squeeze her neck with his bare hands if he wanted. “Move”, he says. God, that motherfucking voice. She remembers every pitch of it. She used to have nightmares with it. She walks into the cell, and finds Layton’s face in front of her, only a few inches from her. Wilford shuts the door, locks it, and eyes her from hair to feet. “Well, sweetheart…” she’s disgusted. She wants him out of here, of this world, of her head. “I told you we would end up here together someday. Didn’t I?”_

_She told herself she would contain it. She would hold, not give him the pleasure of seeing her disturbed. And she tried, really, but at this point, she couldn’t, and she let go. “Oh fuck you, you pig”._

“I was twenty one.” Melanie starts. “I was in college”.

“MIT?” asks Layton.

She nods. “He… is ten years older than me. And he was… he dazzled me”, she whispers at the end, remembering the sensation.

She is silent for a bit, so Layton takes the chance and speaks. “I knew it”.

“Yeah”, she says. He’s a cop, he knows. He sees through people. “You’re right. I was young, and impressionable, and I wanted to change the world. He promised we would. Him and I, together, my ‘brilliant’ brain and his financial resources.”

Layton listens, stares, waits.

“I… “ this is hard for her, he can tell. “I fell… so deep for him.”

“How long before he gave you the first slap?”, he asks. To his surprise, her expression doesn’t shift. But her eyes water up.

“A few months. Three, maybe.”

“Wow, it didn’t take him long.”

She slowly shakes her head. The first tear rolls down her face, which she quickly catches with a finger. “And I stayed, because… what we were doing was important. And I believed in the greater good. Years, God.” she shuts her eyes, the water soaked her face.

“It’s… not your fault.” he says.

“No, I know. I know now.”

He had questions, but he wasn’t gonna pressure her.

“And then, well… the child.”

“How old was she, when Departure?”

She rubs her eyes. “Eleven.”

“Were was she?”

“With my family. I had left him, by then. He was looking for us, desperately. And I knew he would find us, eventually, because it was only a matter of time before he found us. There weren’t many place I could go, but I… sort of did the math. How long it would take him to realize we were gone, and get to the place, and get to the train afterward. I got to Departure point alone, trusting in my mom and Allie to get here safe. And according to my numbers, I would meet him there, because he would have reached us… which he did”.

“And that’s when you left him”.

She nods. “It worked perfect as hell, except… I thought he wasn’t gonna find my mom and Allie in time. And he did”. Her voice finally breaks at the end, which she tries to hold. “When the train started moving, I looked for them, and… and they weren’t here”.

Layton felt his chest pressing a bit. The pain he was witnessing, it hit his chest.

“I’m sorry, Mel”, he says.

She stares at him, innerly thanking God for the company. She would die if she were alone in here. “I’m gonna rip off this motherfucker’s head. Oh God, I swear I will.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Mel”… she hears. She tilts her head sideways, trying to find the source of the mysterious whispering in the dark. “Mel”, once again. “Here”, she hears closer, coming from her right side. Then a hand grabs hers: it’s Bennett, she knows it from the grasp.   
“Wha—”  
“Sshh”, he says, and places a hand on her cheek. It’s warm, and she has missed it. “Don’t make a sound… c’mon”.  
She feels another hand grasping her arm, and she stands. “Follow me”, he says. She tries to keep up behind him, holding to his hand. There’s really no light in there, but the human eye eventually adapts to darkness. There’s a clinking of metal, very softly… it’s the lock, she thinks. “Come”, he indicates. Lead only by her trust, she follows him… keeps walking behind him, his hand is still grasping hers, and it’s still warm. “Easy”, he whispers. If her geological orientation isn’t mistaken, they’re walking through the hall between the cells now. Steps, and steps, almost ten. Clinking of metal again, and then, light. The light from the corridor, the corridor in third that leads to the cells. How did Bennett get in here? She had questions. Where is he taking her?.  
They shut the door beneath them, and the light blinds Melanie. Her eyes struggle to adjust, the photo-impact causing her eyelids to weigh a hundred pounds, suddenly. “Are you alright?” Bennett asks while softly holding her face. She nods quickly, afraid someone finds them. “C’mon”, he whispers, and takes her hand back again, walking in front of her. “Where are we going?” she whispers.   
“Third”, he says, his face still forward, on alert.   
_Audrey’s_ , she thinks. It’s the safest place, he’s right. “How did you get out of the Engine?”  
“The guy on watch fell asleep”, he says, and she can see his smirk even though she’s behind him.   
“What?”, she asks. That’s absurd.  
“Yeah, like in a movie”.  
They reach the door that leads to the Night Car. The corridors seem desert. He turns around, and for the first time since Wilford took her to the cells, she gets a good look at him. “You’ll be safe with Audrey”, he says, and she nods, because she understands. “We’ll find a way to communicate. You’ll know”.  
“How long before they notice I’m gone?”  
“Until sunrise. We have six hours, maybe, but… don’t worry about that. You worry about hiding and protecting yourself”  
“Alexandra?” she rushes to ask.  
“I’ll keep an eye on her the best I can, I promise”, he replies.  
She nods again. And then he stares, takes a lock of her hair and wraps it around her ear. They don’t have time to spare, but she only needs… a minute… here. Her eyes shut instantly when he kisses her; it’s more of a hope for survival than a stress reliever. She senses he’s asking for hope, hope everything will be back to normal and Wilford will be gone. He senses she’s scared but she will never say it out loud, not literally. “Take care of yourself”, he whispers. She nods, and then he adds, to her surprise, “please”, adding the rising of his eyebrows in concern. One more time, she thinks, before kissing him briefly.   
A knock on the other side of the door takes them out of the trance: it’s Audrey. Melanie opens the door, crosses it without looking back at him, and before it shuts again, he shares a glance with Audrey, who nods. Before coming for Melanie, he managed to contact Audrey through one of their usual ways: food trolleys. _“I’m gonna release Mel out of the cell. Can you keep her there until we figure out a plan? Wilford will kill her. I will explain later. 12:00 am, door third/cells.”_  
The answer, which came around thirty minutes later, when the food for third was already distributed and the trolley came back, was short and simple. _“Yes”_.


End file.
